The Curiosity Approach Accreditation
We are delighted to inform you that we are investing time, resources and passion into an accreditation called The Curiosity Approach. The Curiosity Approach Accreditation is something that we are working on over the coming year in partnership with our staff, our families and the Curiosity Approach team themselves.We are embarking on this journey to promote awe and wonder in early childhood, it is a pedagogy that inspires children to see beauty in the random & unusual, to ignite creativity in educators & children.
What does that all mean to the nursery?
An example of this is where we have introduced real tea-sets in the home corner. We have introduced metal teapots for younger children to explore and china teapots for our older children.These different materials, to previous plastic tea sets, broaden children’s learning – they have different textures, sounds, feels, smells, tastes, resistances, weights and feel to them. This also teaches children to handle them with care and respect.We have found by introducing changes such as these that children’s engagement with items is much more involved, sustained and REAL – care is taken not to break things, to put things back when they have been played with, children talk to each other about how to look after the materials and when things do get broken we show children how to safely clear up whilst learning valuable lessons about taking care of things and looking after things properly.
What is the Curiosity Approach?
“The Curiosity Approach is a modern-day approach to Early Childhood, taking parts from Reggio, Steiner, Te Whāriki and adding a sprinkle of Montessori. It is a beautiful recipe book of wonderful ingredients, carefully mixed together with experience, passion and a love of Early Childhood. It’s baked together in a mindful oven of loveliness that needs thoughtful practitioners and professionals to be mentally present, thankful and forever curious about their career with little children”.This approach, and accreditation, builds on these well known and established early years theorists in providing children with an environment, experiences, activities and resources which foster their in-built need to explore, try things out and engage in a high level of sustained shared thinking.What we are working on with this approach enhances the environments and resources that we already have in the nursery. We are introducing resources that are “real” and authentic to inspire awe and wonder and to enable children to handle items that are made of natural materials to gain skills and a level of understanding to support their learning and development at a deeper level.
How can I get involved?
Some of our families have already begun to adopt this approach in their homes too and report back the benefits that they have experienced whilst watching their children learn whilst they play.If you’d like more information please ask at the nursery to borrow a copy of “The A-Z of The Curiosity Approach”, talk with our staff team or you can follow the Curiosity Approach on their website: http://www.thecuriosityapproach.com/